Gianaris Likens Senate GOP To Bush I (Updatedx2)

Joined by former NYC Mayor Ed Koch, fellow Senate Dems and members of the Assembly majority and minority conferences, Sen. Mike Gianaris lit into the missing Senate Republicans, accusing them (yet again) of renegging on their redistricting reform campaign promise.

Koch and good government advocates met earlier with Senate Majority Leader Dean Skelos who formally informed them he does not intend to meet today’s deadline to support an independent commission, as required by the ex-mayor’s NY Uprising pledge.

That’s an argument neither Koch nor Gianaris, who has long championed an independent redistricting commission, is buying.

“Not since the first President Bush told us to read his lips have we seen a more dramatic turnaround on a campaign promise than what we’ve seen from the Senate Republicans,” the Queens Democrat said. “And it happened in a span of less than two months of being in the majority.”

“Their excuses are just that and nothing more. This is the same group that a month ago had no constitutional problems stripping the lieutenant governor of the powers the state constitution grants him, and yet now they’re raising constitutional objections that they didn’t utter a peep about during the campaign season last year.”

“It is shameful. It is what people dislike most about Albany, saying one thing during the elections and doing another after they get elected. It’s time to stop. It’s time for people to keep their promises, pass the pledge we all made, and let’s get this done once and for all.”

Koch has pledged to record robocalls rebranding the Senate Republicans – all of whom signed his NY Uprising pledges – as “enemies” of reform, now that they’re backing away from their support of the commission. That includes Skelos, I’m told.

UPDATE1: Here’s some footage of Koch’s comments at the redistricting press conference. He says Skelos pledged not to block any of his 31 members from co-sponsoring the bill if they so choose. Bets on takers?

UPDATE2: Now there’s a comment from a Senate Republican, which appears in full after the jump.

“What does Senator Gianaris know about reform?” said the anonymous Senate Republican.

“He spent years in the State Assembly, serving as one of Speaker Silver’s most loyal foot soldiers and blocking most of the important reforms Republicans were attempting to put into law. Senator Gianaris should focus on governing for five minutes and quit taking pot shots.”